H Farook, who was hacked to death last week, had received threatening calls over his Facebook posts about his views on religion, said his family members.

The murder of H Farook, a self-professed atheist who discussed his rationalist views on social media platforms, has shaken up Coimbatore and raised concerns about growing religious fundamentalism.

Farook, 31, was a scrap dealer and a member of the Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, a political party dedicated to social reform based on activist and Dravidian leader Periyar EV Ramaswamy’s ideology. His body was found near the Coimbatore Corporation’s sewage complex on on Thursday night.

The police suspect that Farook was killed because of his efforts to spread rationalist thought and his campaign against religious fundamentalism.

According to the police, four people waylaid him and hacked him to death. While M Arshad, a realtor, turned himself into the police on Friday, another suspect, Saddam Hussein, surrendered on Monday. Two more accused are in police custody.

The police could not confirm reports that they were investigating the involvement of a banned group in the attack.

The murder comes at a time when Tamil Nadu’s textile city had been inching back to normalcy after incidents of violence and communal tensionin the wake of the murder of Hindu Munnani leader C Sasikumar in September.

Farook’s relatives refused to collect his body from the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Friday, insisting they will take it for burial only after the police have arrested the killers.

‘Right to live’

Farook, a resident of Bilal Nagar in Ukkadam South in Coimbatore, is survived by his wife, Rasheeda and two children, 13-year-old Afrith and six-year-old Anafa.

Farook was a voracious reader. Friends fondly remembered him someone who stood against all forms of religious fundamentalism.

In a Facebook post on March 13, Farook had said: “I am an enemy of god, enemy of religion and enemy of caste. But I am not an enemy of humans who believe in humanity.”

On her sixth birthday on December 6, Farook had asked his daughter, Anafa to hold up a placard which said Kadavul illai – there is no god. He posted the photo on Facebook.

His family said Farook had received many threatening calls from unknown numbers after this post. Though he took firm stand against religion, his relatives said Farook never tried to force his views on others.

Struggling to hold back tears, Farook’s father, Hameed, told this reporter, “I am a Muslim. I knew my son was an atheist. But he didn’t hate anyone. I believe that atheists too have a right to live in this world.”

Farook’s brother-in-law, Shahjahan, said that though their religious beliefs were different, this was not a source of contention in the family. “All members in our family, except Farook, are practising Muslims,” he said. “He never taunted us nor questioned our belief. He was fond of talking to me on religious issues. Since I am a God-fearing person I decided to stop it some eight months ago. From then on, we discussed mostly family matters,”

Shahjahan said he was sure this was a planned murder and a big gang was responsible for it. “The threat messages he received on his mobile phone were a precursor to this,” he said. “I hope the police will look into the conspiracy angle too.”

A family member, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the accused were good friends with Farook till a year ago but they fell out as they disagreed over his atheism.

Rising fanaticism

Kolathur Mani, state president of the Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, who knew Farook for seven years, described him as a “true humanist” and said his death pointed to a growing religious fanaticism. “I have noticed youngsters are becoming intolerant in Islamic society,” he said. “It is a dangerous sign. But I am relieved to hear that Muslim religious leaders and political party leaders have condemned the killing.”

K Ramakrishnan of the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, of which Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, also blamed religious fundamentalistn for the murder. “Religious fanatics are creating trouble all over India,” he said. “They are the curse of the nation. I request the police should bring the conspiracy angle in Farook’s murder.”

Adopting three simple habits can help maximise the benefits of existing sanitation infrastructure.

India’s sanitation problem is well documented – the country was recently declared as having the highest number of people living without basic sanitation facilities. Sanitation encompasses all conditions relating to public health - especially sewage disposal and access to clean drinking water. Due to associated losses in productivity caused by sickness, increased healthcare costs and increased mortality, India recorded a loss of 5.2% of its GDP to poor sanitation in 2015. As tremendous as the economic losses are, the on-ground, human consequences of poor sanitation are grim - about one in 10 deaths, according to the World Bank.

Poor sanitation contributes to about 10% of the world’s disease burden and is linked to even those diseases that may not present any correlation at first. For example, while lack of nutrition is a direct cause of anaemia, poor sanitation can contribute to the problem by causing intestinal diseases which prevent people from absorbing nutrition from their food. In fact, a study found a correlation between improved sanitation and reduced prevalence of anaemia in 14 Indian states. Diarrhoeal diseases, the most well-known consequence of poor sanitation, are the third largest cause of child mortality in India. They are also linked to undernutrition and stunting in children - 38% of Indian children exhibit stunted growth. Improved sanitation can also help reduce prevalence of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Though not a cause of high mortality rate, NTDs impair physical and cognitive development, contribute to mother and child illness and death and affect overall productivity. NTDs caused by parasitic worms - such as hookworms, whipworms etc. - infect millions every year and spread through open defecation. Improving toilet access and access to clean drinking water can significantly boost disease control programmes for diarrhoea, NTDs and other correlated conditions.

Unfortunately, with about 732 million people who have no access to toilets, India currently accounts for more than half of the world population that defecates in the open. India also accounts for the largest rural population living without access to clean water. Only 16% of India’s rural population is currently served by piped water.

However, there is cause for optimism. In the three years of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the country’s sanitation coverage has risen from 39% to 65% and eight states and Union Territories have been declared open defecation free. But lasting change cannot be ensured by the proliferation of sanitation infrastructure alone. Ensuring the usage of toilets is as important as building them, more so due to the cultural preference for open defecation in rural India.

According to the World Bank, hygiene promotion is essential to realise the potential of infrastructure investments in sanitation. Behavioural intervention is most successful when it targets few behaviours with the most potential for impact. An area of public health where behavioural training has made an impact is WASH - water, sanitation and hygiene - a key issue of UN Sustainable Development Goal 6. Compliance to WASH practices has the potential to reduce illness and death, poverty and improve overall socio-economic development. The UN has even marked observance days for each - World Water Day for water (22 March), World Toilet Day for sanitation (19 November) and Global Handwashing Day for hygiene (15 October).

At its simplest, the benefits of WASH can be availed through three simple habits that safeguard against disease - washing hands before eating, drinking clean water and using a clean toilet. Handwashing and use of toilets are some of the most important behavioural interventions that keep diarrhoeal diseases from spreading, while clean drinking water is essential to prevent water-borne diseases and adverse health effects of toxic contaminants. In India, Hindustan Unilever Limited launched the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, a WASH behaviour change programme, to complement the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Through its on-ground behaviour change model, SASB seeks to promote the three basic WASH habits to create long-lasting personal hygiene compliance among the populations it serves.

This touching film made as a part of SASB’s awareness campaign shows how lack of knowledge of basic hygiene practices means children miss out on developmental milestones due to preventable diseases.

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SASB created the Swachhata curriculum, a textbook to encourage adoption of personal hygiene among school going children. It makes use of conceptual learning to teach primary school students about cleanliness, germs and clean habits in an engaging manner. Swachh Basti is an extensive urban outreach programme for sensitising urban slum residents about WASH habits through demos, skits and etc. in partnership with key local stakeholders such as doctors, anganwadi workers and support groups. In Ghatkopar, Mumbai, HUL built the first-of-its-kind Suvidha Centre - an urban water, hygiene and sanitation community centre. It provides toilets, handwashing and shower facilities, safe drinking water and state-of-the-art laundry operations at an affordable cost to about 1,500 residents of the area.

HUL’s factory workers also act as Swachhata Doots, or messengers of change who teach the three habits of WASH in their own villages. This mobile-led rural behaviour change communication model also provides a volunteering opportunity to those who are busy but wish to make a difference. A toolkit especially designed for this purpose helps volunteers approach, explain and teach people in their immediate vicinity - their drivers, cooks, domestic helps etc. - about the three simple habits for better hygiene. This helps cast the net of awareness wider as regular interaction is conducive to habit formation. To learn more about their volunteering programme, click here. To learn more about the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, click here.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of Hindustan Unilever and not by the Scroll editorial team.